Patient Education and Self-Advocacy: Questions and Responses on Pain Management

Opioid tapering may be necessary for patients on long-term opioids. Here, the authors presented a patient who had uncontrolled chronic musculoskeletal pain while on chronic methadone. Upon methadone tapering, the patient had been taking methadone for longer than six years and had severe methadone-related adverse effects. Using multidisciplinary interventions of patient education and counseling, physical interventions, and nonopioid medications, patient’s methadone was discontinued after longer than one year tapering with relatively good pain control. The tapering process highlights the importance of pain management during opioid tapering using multidisciplinary interventions to prevent and treat opioid withdrawal and pain relapses.

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Patient Perceptions of Pain Management Therapy: A Comparison of Real-Time Assessment of Patient Education and Satisfaction and Registered Nurse Perceptions

Pain Management Nursing ◽

10.1016/j.pmn.2010.04.004 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 13 (4) ◽

pp. 186-193 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

Greg Bozimowski

Keyword(s):

Pain Management ◽

Patient Education ◽

Real Time ◽

Registered Nurse ◽

Patient Perceptions ◽

Time Assessment

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Expectation-setting and patient education about pain control in the perioperative setting: A qualitative study

Journal of Opioid Management ◽

10.5055/jom.2021.0680 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 17 (6) ◽

pp. 455-464

Author(s):

Josh Bleicher, MD, MS ◽

Jordan Esplin, BS ◽

Allison N. Blumling, MS ◽

Jessica N. Cohan, MD, MAS ◽

Mark Savarise, MD, MBA, FACS ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Pain Management ◽

Patient Education ◽

Qualitative Study ◽

Pain Control ◽

Control Strategies ◽

Patient Experiences ◽

Patient Anxiety ◽

Opioid Use ◽

Post Operative Pain ◽

Preoperative Expectation

Objective: Interventions aimed at limiting opioid use are widespread. These are most often targeted toward prescribers or health systems. Patients’ perspectives are too often absent during the creation of such interventions. This qualitative study aims to understand patient experiences with education about perioperative pain control, from preoperative expectation-setting to post-operative pain control strategies and ultimately opioid disposal.Design: We performed semistructured interviews focused on patient experiences in the perioperative period. Content from interview transcripts was analyzed using a constant comparative method.Setting: All participants underwent surgery at a single, academic tertiary-care center.Participants: Adult patients who had a general surgery operation in the prior 60 days.Outcome measure: Key themes from interviews about perioperative pain management, specifically related to preoperative expectation-setting and post-operative education.Results: Patients identified gaps in communication and education in three main areas: preoperative expectation setting of post-operative pain; post-operative pain control strategies, including use of opioid medications; and the importance of appropriate opioid disposal. Failure to set expectations led to either significant patient anxiety preoperatively or poor preparation for home discharge. Poor education on pain control strategies led to misinformation on when and how to use opioids. Lack of education on opioid disposal led to most participants failing to properly dispose of leftover medication.Conclusions: Gaps in education surrounding post-operative pain and opioid use can lead to patient anxiety, inappropriate use of opioids, and poor disposal rates of leftover medications. Future interventions aimed at patient education to improve pain management and opioid stewardship should be created with an understanding of patient experiences and perceptions.

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